Peers urged British policymakers to support the commitment made by the UK at the COP 21 climate change conference in Paris in December 2015 by ensuring higher carbon standards are made mandatory as soon as possible. The Amendment was approved by 48 votes during the Lords Report Stage, calling on the Energy Secretary, the Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP, to ensure ensure “that all new homes in England built from 1 April 2018 achieve the carbon compliance standard”. This effectively reinstates the Zero Carbon Homes standard.
The proposal to scrap the standard, when it was announced last year, was greeted with condemnation by housebuilding businesses on the basis that it would add to long-term housing costs through a reduction in energy efficiency. It was also subsequently attacked by green building experts and sustainability professionals, with the Solar Trade Association (STA) commenting that the government needed to replace the policy in order to avoid an increase in carbon emissions and higher energy bills for consumers. The National Policy for the Built Environment Committee argued that the scrapping of the standard would inflict ‘future misery’ on homeowners if it isn’t reversed.
The Lords Amendment has already been welcomed by the UK Green Building Council.
“During the ten years prior to July 2015, the leading players spanning the housebuilding industry – developers, product manufacturers, contractors and engineers – got behind zero-carbon homes, investing heavily and innovating to make it a reality” said Julie Hirigoyen, CEO of the UK Green Building Council. “The unexpected and unwanted scrapping of the policy made a mockery of the Government's green credentials, and demonstrated complete disdain for the quality of the nation's new homes and the industry’s investment. Having supported the Paris climate agreement with much fanfare, cutting carbon from new homes and buildings will be vital to achieving our commitments. Re-introducing the zero carbon homes standard would be a clear next step on this journey, and would provide the certainty the industry needs to continue investing in new skills and technologies.”
The Amendment was moved by Liberal Democrat Baroness Parminter in the form of a clause to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 to introduce “carbon compliance standard for new homes” into the Bill. This will require the Secretary of State to “make regulations, within one year, to ensure that all new homes in England built from 1 April 2018 achieve the carbon compliance standard”, the standard being defined in the Amendment as “an improvement on the target carbon dioxide emission rate, as set out in the Building Regulations 2006, of (a) 60% in the case of detached houses; (b) 56% in the case of attached houses; and(c) 44% in the case of flats.”
Crossbench Peer Lord Krebs, who is also Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, Adaptation sub-Committee, commented that if the UK does not require homes to be zero carbon standard today, “we will have to introduce it at some point in the future”. He added that there are compelling reasons to accept this amendment, “in terms of both our climate change commitments and cost effectiveness”.
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